This is Part 2 of a series on Twitter use by Montgomery County elected officials. You can read Part 1 here, which in addition to focusing on CE Elrich’s attempt to circumvent public disclosure requirements provides a background of the legal precedent in the constitutional violation elected officials commit when they block you on social media. If you have been blocked on social media by any members of the Montgomery County Council, please contact us at inquiry@cleanslatemoco.com
Update 2/27/23: On the February 21st Will Jawando responded to the MPIA request and cited that his Twitter account @willjawando was a personal account. This is following the creation of a new twitter account on February 20th in which he created a new Twitter account (@CMJawando) and cited it as his “official” account.
On February 12 2023, Will Jawando struck out by blocking the CleanSlateMoCo twitter account. CleanSlateMoCo has not yet been provided details on the entirety of accounts Will has blocked on Twitter (MPIA still being processed), but given his move we thought it important to go ahead and provide evidence that Will’s Twitter account is not a personal account and that by blocking constituents he is violating the constitutional rights of those he was elected to represent and serve.
Will recently celebrated his 40th birthday. As part of this celebration Will catered a large, and by the looks of it, expensive party. Included on the guest list was newly elected Governor Wes Moore. As part of the birthday celebrations, Will had a videographer on hand to record the event and compile a 2 min video for him to showcase on social media.
The video received a great many views. It was also the perfect juxtaposition: an elected official who has self-branded himself as fighting for the underprivileged providing a self-gratifying glance at himself enjoying a very privileged birthday celebration. CleanSlateMoCo responded:
Will didn’t like this.
So, prior to Will attempting to provide a defense that his Twitter account (@willjawando) is a personal account, and that he is free to block as he wishes. Here are the details that prove conclusively that he utilizes this account as an official form of communication in his duty as an elected official.
In conducting the review, we looked at the 599 most recent tweets of Will. This spanned a time period of August 2022 to February 2023.
In looking at the retweets, there are 31 (15%) that represent retweets of Montgomery County official twitter accounts. The quoted tweet data is not as conclusive and indicates Will frequently requotes individual users associated with politics, government institutions, or media.
Evidence of his account clearly being used for official government purposes is much more evident when you look more closely at the 209 self-composed tweets, 116 replies and 30 self replies. Together this content represents 59% of Will’s Twitter activity. In reviewing these tweets we looked at the 4 criteria that are used by courts to determine if an account is used for official government purposes (and not personal):
- links to a public office address/email or phone number,
- displays government symbols,
- shares information about government services or meetings, or
- asks for input on government business (ACLU-MA).
The following represents a sampling. We honestly had to stop because we were collecting such a volume of screenshots we thought you would lose interest.
Interacting with and providing constituents contact information.
Communicating directly with constituents on their concerns and ideas.
Providing updates on County Council activities.
Providing additional information on County projects or initiatives.
Soliciting constituents’ participation or input.
Providing information on his advocacy as an elected official.
As we await a listing of all of the Twitter accounts Will has blocked, we are advocating that he immediately unblocks all accounts and refrain from blocking accounts in the future. Not doing this is a clear violation of rights afforded citizens in Montgomery County. If you are currently blocked by Will on Twitter or other social media platforms, please email us at inquiry@cleanslatemoco.com.
Stay tuned for Part 3.
